Maps: Where would we be without them? This was banner year for beautiful, information-dense cartography, which provided a moment of self-reflection like a giant, geographic mirror. Here are our favorite maps from 2013 that helped us find our place in the world.

Why's your internet so slow? We mapped relative download speeds by congressional district across the contiguous U.S. in 5,600 cities and towns. Sadly, most of the country is far below the country's average of 18.2 megabits per second.

Mary, Lisa, Ashley, Emily, Emma, Isabella, Sophia: This seemingly infinite GIF from Jezebel was one of the most mesmerizing maps of all time. Who could forget the Great Jennifer-Jessica Era, or the Lost Amanda Years?